When to go on maternity leave

Hello! I was wondering at how many weeks do most women go on maternity leave? I work from home at my desk so my job is not physically demanding. Any advice would be appreciated! 😊

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Im a teacher and going on maternity leave at 38 weeks, second baby!

I plan to stop working at the end of September and just enjoy the last month and a half as much as the third trimester allows 😅

I’m a first time mum and just started my maternity leave. I got to 37 + 5 days. I’m proud I got that far but your body tells you when it’s time 😊

I’m going off at 36 weeks but my job is very physical and I think I will potentially start to struggle before that. But I want to have as much of my mat leave with my baby as possible so this was a compromise.

Go on mat leave as late as you can physically and mentally manage. My mat leave started on my due date with oldest 2 and I just took all my annual leave before hand which was about 5 weeks. Plus I went sick for a couple of weeks before that as I was really struggling. With my third I was off on sick from 29 weeks due to early labour so my mat leave automatically started at 36 weeks but due to timing of her birth I got all my annual leave at the end.

With my first I finished work 6 days before my due date and little one was born 2 days overdue. Currently pregnant with my second and I’ll be going on Mat leave 25th October, I’m due 2nd November

I was wfh and i went on mat leave a couple days before my due date and then gave birth a day later. I wanted to save as much of my mat leave for afterwards

I agree to try and leave it as late as possible! With my first I went on mat leave at 39 weeks, and he still didn't arrive until 42+0! I'm due 11th November and also WFH. As things stand, I'm looking to start mat leave on 1st Nov but will take the last two weeks of October as annual leave as this pregnancy feels a lot more demanding so far compared to last time.

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Why is my last name the price of marriage?

I’m looking for some outside perspectives on a situation in my longterm relationship.

My partner and I have been together, on and off, for 12 years and have lived together for the past 7 years. We've talked about marriage, but we've reached a disagreement that neither of us seems willing to budge on.

He has told me that he doesn't want to get married unless I take his last name. The problem is that I want to keep my maiden name as part of my identity. I’m the last person in my family line with my last name, and it means a lot to me. My preference would be to hyphenate our names so I can honor both my family and our marriage.

He feels strongly that a married couple should share his last name, while I feel strongly about keeping mine in some form.
I'm curious how others would view this. Is it reasonable for him to make taking his last name a condition of marriage? Is it reasonable for me to want to keep my maiden name through hyphenation? Would this be a red flag to you, or just a difference in values that couples sometimes have to work through?

I'd appreciate honest opinions and experiences from people who have dealt with similar situations.

Paternity??

Has anyone ever had doubts from the father of their child , no infidelity , just randomly requests a paternity test at the end or anytime during your pregnancy and starts treating you differently ? I’m giving him one but it makes me feel like have you had doubts this whole time ? Were those moments even real ? And just the uncomfortable feeling of him being in the room holding the baby he had doubts about :/ .

What are we eating in this weather?

It’s way too hot to be standing over a cooker or have the oven on… What are we eating? 🫣 I need my solid three meals… 🤣

No friends

I'm 39 and have no friends!
I used to have lots of friends but as I've got older, I seem to have lost contact or life has just got in the way as we have different things going on.
I've tried everything to meet new people but nothing ever comes of it.
I thought I would meet other Mums at baby groups and things, which I did, but again no-one really that I clicked with.
Is anyone else in this situation? Any ideas of how to meet new people please?

Food!

What are we eating in this heat? 🤯Too hot to stand and cook! 😂